Rescue Americans Now

Floor Speech

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Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the American Rescue Plan. This past January marked 1 year since the first case of coronavirus was found in the United States. In my home State of Alabama, nearly 10,000 people have contracted COVID-19 and almost 9,000 have died, and over half a million of the workers have filed for unemployment.

We know that the effects of this pandemic have disproportionately impacted our communities of color and low-income workers, who are more likely to be frontline workers and less likely to be able to afford access to quality healthcare.

Thankfully, because of the leadership of the new Biden administration, we recently witnessed a record drop in COVID cases and hospitalizations in Alabama; and with over 815,000 vaccine doses administered in our State, hope is finally on the horizon.

That said, we have a long way to go before there are enough of the vaccines available to our communities to be really safe from the virus.

As this pandemic continues, I know Alabama families are struggling to make ends meet.

The time for decisive action is now. I strongly support the American Rescue Plan because it will not only crush the virus, but also help us to get back to schools safely, as well as to provide emergency financial support to struggling families and small businesses.

First, the President's American Rescue Plan will create a national vaccination program that will make sure that underrepresented communities are not left behind. The bill also ramps up testing and contact tracing, increases the supply of critically needed PPE, and makes healthcare more accessible by enhancing the Advanced Premium Tax Credit.

That was so important to so many Americans who could not afford otherwise to purchase quality healthcare coverage. This is critical in a non-Medicaid expansion State like Alabama, where people have fewer available healthcare coverage options.

Secondly, the American Rescue Plan delivers immediate financial relief to working families. This bill would provide critically needed $1,400 economic assistance checks to individuals so we can help families recover and cover the costs of necessary expenses, like childcare, groceries, rent, utilities, and so much more.

I also fought to ensure that the unemployment insurance was extended and expanded to $400 a week from $300 a week. This is so important. When we think about the fierce urgency of now, we know that the unemployment, the Federal pandemic unemployment insurance benefits will actually expire March 14 if we do not act. That is why it is so incredibly important that we here in Congress do our part.

I also worked with my colleagues in the Ways and Means Committee to ensure that the American Rescue Plan includes important provisions for our most vulnerable families. I am proud that the package includes an additional $7.6 million in childcare funding for the State of Alabama, which will help our frontline and hourly workers, who have been our true heroes in this pandemic.

Furthermore, the package provides over $10 million for Alabama through a TANF pandemic emergency fund so that families with necessary emergency needs get the essentials that are so necessary for their survival.

I am especially proud this bill will also include lifesaving expansion to child tax credit and earned income tax credit, and I have championed that for many years. In my district alone, 53 percent of the children do not receive the full benefits of this credit because it is not fully refundable. We will make it fully refundable and we will expand it, lifting millions of children out of poverty.

This bill also provides direct support to local government, cities, and counties directly who have not benefited from their States directly. This is critically important to small communities and large communities all across this Nation.

Finally, the American Rescue Plan supports our small businesses and our frontline workers in our minority communities. In this bill, we expand PPP eligibility and we provide critical resources to our frontline healthcare workers, transit workers, and teachers.

Mr. Speaker, economists and healthcare experts agree, if we do not take bold action now, we will have more deaths later and risk an economic downturn.

Mr. Speaker, I am asking my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, to listen to President Biden's call for bipartisanship and pass this bill.

I am reminded during this Black History Month of the powerful words of Dr. Martin Luther King, who said, ``We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.''

Mr. Speaker, let's pass this package so that we can begin to Build Back Better and reassure our constituents that help is indeed on the way.

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